by Diego Morra
The demise of former Speaker Joe de Venecia Jr. brings to mind a number of stories about him and how he parlayed his being a classmate of the late Jose Ma. Sison in Letran gave him an opportunity to be involved in the peace process between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Philippine government.
One anecdote comes from a longtime journalist who was covering the revolutionary movement from the time he was a cub reporter for the pre-martial law Manila Times, and when the first photo of the NPA that appeared in the newspaper carried a caption that describing guerrillas of the National People’s Army in Isabela. In one forum in Greenhills, the same journalist had a chat with de Venecia and told him, why he wasn’t communicating with the NDFP International Office in Utrecht, The Netherlands, to facilitate the release of a police officer and a soldier captured by the NPA. You can just pick up a phone and call, de Venecia was told. Eventually, he linked up with the NDFP and even went to Tanay, Rizal to witness the handover of the captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC.)
De Venecia’s friendship with Sison was the opening for a number of negotiations for the release of other soldiers, in one instance four Philippine Army (PA) officers, all of whom were freed not only as confidence-building measures but also as humanitarian gestures. The journalist described de Venecia as “masunurin pala” and would not hesitate to help even when the military was opposed to certain measures or concessions to the NDFP. Some lawyers working for de Venecia also did backchanneling to seek the release of arrested activists and suspected guerrillas.
His formula for negotiations was clear: Work immediately on areas where the two parties can agree and engage in informal negotiations to set the atmosphere for comprehensive talks. This is a light year removed from what is happening to the purported desire of the Marcos Jr. administration to pursue the peace talks under an agreement signed in 2023. Formal talks cannot resume inasmuch as there are factions within the regime that pose hurdles for such talks, with one retired armed forces chief arguing that the NDFP is not united in pushing negotiations. An indication of the administration’s refusal to negotiate was the military’s rejection of the NPA’s unilateral ceasefire and the subsequent attacks in Mindoro.
Political prisoners Vicente Ladlad and Adelberto Silva have confirmed de Venecia’s role in the peace talks between themselves and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), and admitted that the veteran politician significantly contributed to the process. De Venecia succumbed to coronary thrombosis at the age of 89. He played a constructive role in the peace process in the late 1990s to the early 2000s, when progress was made through dialogue and negotiation in resolving the armed conflict, which is at the core of a meaningful and sustainable peace process in the country.
De Venecia was House Speaker from 1992 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2008. Under his leadership, the first “super majority” in the post Marcos Sr. era was organized. He headed the Lakas-CMD Party, the country’s dominant political party during the Ramos administration. He ran for the presidency in 1998 national elections but lost to then Vice President Joseph Estrada. Ladlad and Silva disclosed that de Venecia’s deft handling of the government panel members reduced the hurdles and led to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRHIL.)
Ladlad and Silva noted that de Venecia joined the GRP panel and worked with the NDFP panel to draft the pact that both panels approved. For de Venecia and the NDFP consultants, CAHRHIL was “a good agreement” that could have guided the conduct of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) amid the continuing armed conflict. The consultants added that de Venecia acted as an emissary in crafting confidence-building measures, including efforts that led to the release of captured government personnel in early 1998.
They said “the 1990s marked a watershed in the Philippine peace process, with landmark agreements such as The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and CAHRHIL reflecting sustained efforts to pursue negotiated political solutions—agreements that remain vital frameworks for dialogue and whose dismantling undermines the quest for enduring peace in the country.”#
